Tantra often accepts your old computer as a Trade-In or for Recycling when you are buying new
(or newer) Computers from us.

We would like to see the computers to confirm what we will offer, but we may be able to give you an indication of its value in advance before you travel here if you could let us know its Serial Number (from ‘About this Mac’) and if possible its processor speed, memory and hard drive size.

Computers that are Core-i3 or Core-i5 still have value but those with the older Core2Duo processors (pre-2010 or older) are now relatively slow and worth quite a bit less. Anything pre-2008 is completely worthless.

If you are simply wishing to have the data transferred off the old hard drive in the computer but have no need for it after that – then we can recycle it for you.

We offer a free service of securely deleting hard drives if you have data that is personal, private or financial and can return the blank drive to you if you wish.

The 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display is a force to be reckoned with — with powerful technologies, incredible performance, our most advanced desktop operating system and amazing built-in apps. With a remarkable 5120×2880 resolution, you’ll experience everything on your display like never before.

Just think of it – this screen has a phenomenal 14.7 million pixels – a screen where the individual pixels cannot be seen. Ordinary HD screens have 2 million pixels, a 4K screen has 8.8 million but now Apple have a 5K screen with 14.7 million

Sharp text that’s as delightful to read on the screen as it is on the page. Photos that reveal details you never knew you were missing. Video that feels as lifelike as real life.

The Processor is the Fourth Generation Intel Core with speeds up to 4GHz ! This is the most powerful iMac yet. A fourth-generation quad-core 3.5GHz Intel Core i5 processor is standard on iMac with Retina 5K display. And if you need even more power, a quad-core 4.0GHz Intel Core i7 processor is available for the first time.

Latest AMD Graphics with up to 3.5 Teraflops of graphics computing power. The new iMac with Retina 5K display features the latest AMD high-performance graphics with up to 3.5 teraflops of graphics compute power. So whether you’re watching a film or making one, playing a game or designing one, the power behind all those pixels delivers smooth animation, speed and responsiveness for the best visual experience possible.

Latest Fusion Drive Technology – this iMac Retina 5K comes as standard with the 1Tb Fusion – with the option to upgrade to 3TB — giving you the best of both worlds: a high-capacity hard drive and high-performance flash storage. Fusion Drive automatically and intelligently manages your data so that frequently used apps, documents, photos and other files stay on the faster flash storage, while infrequently used items move to the hard drive. As the system learns how you work, your Mac experience gets even better. To opt for maximum performance, choose up to 1TB of flash storage though this is still expensive at present.

This new iMac has Thunderbolt 2. Thunderbolt I/O technology offers extraordinary transfer speeds and incredibly versatile expansion capabilities. The new iMac with Retina 5K display comes with Thunderbolt 2 — delivering twice the throughput to provide up to 20 Gbps of bandwidth to each port. Connect high-performance peripherals such as external drives, cameras, and audio and video devices for the fastest data transfer yet.

Apple -normally a black legend for being close about new developments – have finally announced a replacement for the MacPro Tower and confirmed it will start to sell its new Pro workstation from December 2013.
That is a high priced market that continues to attract a certain customer and carries high margins. Over a third of the cost of a Pro Workstation can go on its GPU’s (graphics processors) – add-in boards from Nvidia and ATI. Professionals need to add memory – 16Gb, 24Gb 32Gb even 64Gb – and high-speed storage.
It’s not just graphic artists who need that power: Architects , Engineers and Designers with CAD requirements and computer aided manufacturing, but also Medical and Pharmaceutical research, and increasingly, data visualisation and analytics. Although some of this work is moving to servers or even the cloud, there is still a need for raw power next to the desk.
But then Apple is not content to build a big-box workstation like those from Dell, Lenovo or HP. Instead, it has opted for a cylinder-type design, cooled via a central duct. It only comes with solid-state storage, and has no internal expansion slots. Instead, Apple is promoting a new, fibre-based Thunderbolt 2 interface (the new Mac has six of these ports). Built-in, the computer comes with two graphics cards.
Despite its design, though, the new Mac Pro is more expandable than other Apple machines, such as the iMac, would suggest. According to MacUser, the SSD units can be swapped out, and the GPUs replaced – although an upgrade would have to be to another, Apple-specific card.
Companies such as Sonnet have announced Thunderbolt 2 chassis for PCI-e cards. This may add to desktop clutter for high-end users, but it keeps the computer smaller and cooler for everyone else.
How well this quirky computer, with an entry-level price tag of just over £2000, will sell remains to be seen. But Apple may well be right to design a niche machine for a niche market. The general business PC is a rapidly declining market, and Apple was one of the earliest companies to spot the trend towards portables, laptops and tablets.
It may well be the new Mac Pro is the last for a long time anyway. By the time this model reaches the end of its lifecycle, even high end computing could be on portables. Surely it can’t all go to the cloud?

After the underwhelming release of the iPhone 5s and 5c, Apple are responding – it seems – with an iPhone 6

Featuring an edge to edge Retina screen with slightly larger icons and covered with a high-tech graphite sheet making it virtually indestructible and the case in carbon fibre – light but strong. New Software and Powered by a Quad-Core 2.8Ghz Processor with 4Gb of Ram making it as powerful as the average computer! Also returning to a Lightning 2 charger with a wider connector similar to the original iPhone. Is it just rumour and when will it be out – it could be a year away?

My most troubled customer -yes the one that rang at least 15 times with her problems (both life and computer related) called me a ‘sweetie’ today after I managed to sort out a problem over the phone. I didn’t actually do anything – just went through all the possible reasons why a CD might get stuck in the optical drive and suddenly hHey Presto – it came out on its own. Made my day.

The New MacPro will be a little while longer before release but we know that it is a complete break from the previous tower design. It is much more compact (10 inches tall, 7″ diameter) and will rely on the new Thunderbolt 2 bus for expansion beyond the internal Solid State drive supplied. ( no traditional drive bay) It will be extremely fast (about twice as fast as the present one)- with the very latest Xeon E5 Processors with up to 12 cores and very fast memory (up to 128Gb in four slots with 60 GBps bandwidth

Faster WiFi and Bluetooth, dual graphics cards, each up to 6Gb of dedicated VRam with two and a half times the performance of current models and will drive 3 x 4k displays Prices (guess) will be from £1800 up to £3000. Maybe not what was expected – but this is Apple.

After a lot of last minute security issues and order payment tests The New website (with online ordering) went live on Saturday. I had begun (prematurely) to pester people by Facebook that this was all happening on friday the day before – so my apologies to all those i bothered when there was nothing for them to see till the following day. Well I hope its not like the superstar who was expected at 10pm and didn’t arrive till 1 am – No wonder the man said “just sing bitch”